Take fish, salt in vats, leave in sun for months: why ancient Romans loved fermented fish sauces like garum

By Tamara Lewit, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne

If you slipped back through time to taste a dish from the Roman Empire, you’d likely be sampling some fermented fish sauce.

Surviving Roman recipes add this to anything from barley porridge to a sweet custard made with pine nuts, olive oil, wine, honey and pepper.

Although it is often referred to as garum, the exact meaning of this term is surprisingly uncertain.

A fish sauce by any other name

Fish sauce is called garum, liquamen,…

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